The invention relates in general to the setting up of a speech connection and especially in a system comprising an intelligent network and a data network with connected computers.
The rapid growth of the telecommunication has enabled the teleoperators to offer their users many different kinds of services. A network architecture offering advanced services is called the intelligent network IN. The intelligent network architecture can be applied in most telecommunication networks as e.g. in switched telephone networks PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), in mobile and packet switched networks PSPDN (Packet Switched Public Data Network) as well as in ISDN- and B-ISDN-networks (Integrated Services Digital Network, Broadband-ISDN).
Irrespective of the network technology, the objective of the intelligent network architecture is to facilitate the creation, control and management of new telecommunication services.
The Service Switching Point (SSP) contains call management and service selection functions. It can observe the intelligent network service requests. The Service Control Point (SCP) contains the service programs used to produce the intelligent network services. The Service Data Point (SDP) is a database, which contains the client and network data used by the SCP service programs to produce individual services. The Intelligent Peripheral (IP) offers special functions, such as messages and voice and multi-dialling identification. The tasks of the Service Management Point (SMP) include database management, network control and testing, as well as network data collection. It can connect to all other physical entities.
The Basic Call State Model (BCSM) defined in connection with the IN-network illustrates the different stages of call control and contains the points where the call control can be interrupted in order to start the intelligent network service. It identifies the detection points in the call and connection process, where the IN service logic entities can be in interaction with the basic call and connection management characteristics.
As mentioned above, the intelligent network architecture can also be applied in the ISDN-net. The Integrated Digital Services Network (ISDN) is characterized in that the user can with the same user interface utilize several communication services either separately or simultaneously. Different applications, such as e.g. terminal, terminal group, multi-service exchange, local area network, other private network, etc. are connected to the ISDN by a restricted user interface group. The ISDN- network provides for the development of the present telephone to be part of a multi-service terminal, such as the combination xe2x80x9ctelephone+PCxe2x80x9d, enabling simultaneous transmission of speech and data.
The ISDN user-network interface provides different types of channels for the information transmission between the subscriber and the network. The B-channel, which operates at a speed of 64 kbit/s and is provided with timing, is used for all information transmission, e.g. for transmission of all kinds of coded speech or data. The D-channel, which transmission speed is either 16 kbit/s or 64 kbit/s, is primarily intended as a signalling channel for circuit switched connections. Combining the channels provide different channel constructions and ISDN-user interfaces. The Basic Access has a 2B+D-structure and the Basic System Access has a 30B+D-structure. The Basic Access is used to connect one or several terminals directly to the ISDN-network, whereas the Basic System Access is used for connecting big switches and local area networks to the ISDN-network.
The interconnection of local networks through ISDN is today possible, although at a speed of 64 kbit/s, but the speed is however not sufficient for the transmission of large files or graphic applications. The deficiencies of the ISDN-networks are eliminated by networks using the Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) as multiplexing method. ATM is a connection-based technology, in which the blocks belonging to the same connection are identified based on e.g. the virtual channel (VCI) or the virtual path (VPI) of the heading identifier. The value of the VCI used is defined during setup and the VPIs are setup more permanently using the network management functions. The virtual channel identifier relates either to the connection or to a single service component, e.g. a picture, voice, etc. The identifier is connection dependent and is maintained during the whole connection. Signalling and user data are transmitted on separate virtual channels. Several extensive computer networks are based on the ATM-technology.
Known intelligent network services are the call remote control, the follow-me-diversion (FMD), in which the service subscriber receives a number to which the coming calls are transferred according to the phone number each time registered for the subscriber, and the personal number UPT (universal personal telecommunications), in which the service subscriber can make calls from any terminal and receive calls to any terminal in different networks. In the latter service, the call type is only restricted by the properties of the terminal and the network, the subscriber has a personal and network independent number.
The problem with the types of services described above is that the call cannot be transferred to a phone connected to a network formed by computers, a data network, which is outside the digital network, e.g. the ISDN-network. In this network the transmission connections can e.g. be based on ATM. The worldwide Internet e.g. is such a network. In the data network every terminal, such as the PC- or work station, has its own data network address for receiving incoming information. In Internet the standard address is in the form user@outn.,,out1.0.top. User is the name of the user, the ou can be from zero to a few and top is top level domain, in Finland e.g. fi. If a telephone is integrated to such a terminal, a mechanism has not yet been introduced for setting up a call between this telephone and e.g. a subscriber connected to the ISDN-net. The lack of this mechanism prevents from using the intelligent network services such as the personal number UPT.
The objective of this invention is thus to provide a mechanism by which the subscriber primarily can call any number from a telephone connected to the data network such as internet via the work station, and secondly by which the subscriber can direct the incoming calls to the work station currently in use. In the latter case the calling subscriber does not necessarily know the location of the called subscriber.
The invention is a method of setting up a speech connection between the users of two or several terminals being in different networks in a system comprising an intelligent network, in which the call from the exchange and/or switch is transferred through the Service Switching Point (SSP), which starts the inquiry via the common channel signalling network to the service data base, in which the required information is traced for the handling of the call, and which returns this data through the signalling network or corresponding and SSP back to the exchange and/or switch, the exchange and/or switch uses the data to set up the call, a data network, in which at least one logged-in computer has a data network address and a telephone integrated to the computer, and a gateway connecting the networks, in which method the address information of the logged-in computer in the data network is transferred to the gateway, from the gateway the message is transmitted to the intelligent network to update the address data of the subscriber""s computer logged into the data network, and the speech connection between the mentioned subscriber and the other subscriber is created controlled by the intelligent network, when speech connection is desired.
The invention utilizes the intelligent network and the personal addresses of the data network work stations so that, when the subscriber starts his work station and connects into the data network, he at the same time sends his current data network address as well as his personal identifier PI, which are transmitted to the gateway connecting the data network and the ISDN-net. Internet is used as an example in the description.
The gateway converts the internet-address to an ISDN-address and sends it and the PI-identifier via the intelligent network Service Switching Point (SSP) to the Service Control Point (SCP). SCP stores the data in the Service Data Point (SDP) database.
All control functions are concentrated in the intelligent network, wherefore a speech connection can be set up between the subscriber and any other subscriber using the intelligent network functions. The other subscriber can be an ISDN-subscriber, a PSTN-subscriber or a subscriber connected to the data network. Because the intelligent network has the routing information about the subscriber""s location, the subscriber can use services like the call remote control FMD (follow-me-diversion) and the personal number UPT (universal personal telecommunications).